By Aidan Montoya
Captain America: Brave New World
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) newest movie is called ‘Captain America: Brave New World’. While some would say it is a breath of fresh air with a familiar name for the movie franchise, it is definitely not the same as the original Captain America movies. The freshly released movie stars Anthony Mackie as Captain America Sam Wilson in replacement of old Captain America Steve Rogers. The story follows Wilson and the President of the United States Thaddeus Ross as they go through a rocky deal with Japan about a new rare metal discovered. During all of that, a villain is lurking in the shadows, pinning Japan and America against each other. Captain America’s mission is to stop the secret villain and prevent Ross from attacking Japan.
In my opinion, ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ is painfully average. For it to be the first MCU movie released in 2025, I believe it was nothing more than just okay. The movie felt very safe and almost too boring. The MCU has had some crazy, mind-blowing ideas in the past, and while it is okay to also release down-to-earth films, they still need to come with a more fetching plot, to keep the audience engaged. The story’s plot lacks luster and key elements that could make the movie stand out. Not only is the main villain laughable and non-threatening but Captain America also doesn’t feel like Captain America. Wilson as the new Captain America, while being very charismatic, still misses some of the aspects that made the audience love Rogers. Captain America Rogers fought for what was right, no matter what, even if it meant going against his government. Furthermore, he was caring and knew everyone he worked with on a different, very personal level. In this movie, Wilson knows the government is wrong but doesn’t really do anything about it. He just holds still and waits until he is given orders to complete. On top of that, I also did not receive the type of connection from Wilson that Rogers had with people. Wilson talks to everyone like they are good coworkers, but not really connects with them on a deeper level.
However, I will say that not everything in the movie was average. President Ross played a great part, and Harrison Ford as the actor brings a lot of character to the role which makes him very likable. The movie also does a good job of making the audience care for Ross and his struggles. In my opinion, I think he even somewhat stole the show from Wilson, which I did not mind because at least every scene Ross was in, I felt more engaged with. While President Ross was a nice addition, I will say a lot of the other characters introduced in the movie are very forgettable. For example, Wilson’s partner Joaquin Torres, who is the new Falcon, does not really play an important role in the movie. He is merely brought in for comedic relief and then just abandoned and forgotten for the main part of the movie.
To sum this up, ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ is perfectly average. After leaving the theater, I did not feel mind-blown nor was I left thinking much about the movie. Many other people who also saw the movie felt the exact same way and when I asked them to name three characters from the movie, they even struggled. I feel like the movie would have needed some more spice to it and more risks taken by the producers instead of playing it safe. Taking risks as well as mind-blowing plot twists are exactly what made most of the MCU movies memorable and what MCU overall stands for.
